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Stephen Novak gets out his crystal ball and predicts what we can expect in the year2013.

Inspired by Jeffrey Gitomer

• Some customers will say “No”
• A competitor is going to undercut your estimate and get the job
• You’re going to say something stupid
• Your customer is going to ask you a question that you are not prepared for
• One of your customers are going to complain about your price
• You will want to snap back at a customer
• You’ll have a big sale fall through
• You will become frustrated with where you are and where you want to be
• At least once you’ll think that the grass is greener somewhere else
• You will miss opportunities at meetings and parties because you forgot your business cards

But, I also predict that if you endure those challenges, keep a level head, and do what you’ve been trained to do – with a positive attitude:

• Most customers will say yes!!!
• Competitors may beat our price, but never our service – they will come back!!!
• You are going to watch what you say and how you say it in order to get your point across professionally!!!
• You will know that if you study up on your product and service lines, you will become more prepared to answer any question confidently!!!
• Once you fully wrap your head around the truth of “Customer Trust,” you will realize that price isn’t the only reason that customers will come to you!!!
• You won’t snap back at customers because you realize that although you may win that battle, you will eventually lose the war!!!
• You will close many big sales.  Many of them being repeat customers!!!
• You will realize that nothing stays the same.  You will either get better or you will get worse – it’s up to you.  Then you will take steps to grow yourself both personally and professionally.  You will pick up a book.  You will listen to something inspirational or motivational instead of the clowns on the radio!!!
• You will contemplate change with a clear head.  You will never make rash or illogical decisions.  You will ask for help through difficult times and not make irrational choices that thrust change upon you!!!
• You will always be ready to talk to people at social events about who you are and what you do.  Prepare and practice a 30 second verbal “commercial” that you can whip out at any time.  And, of course, keep business cards with you at all times!!!
• You will come into your own and learn to relax and enjoy your customers!!!
• You are going to face each day with a renewed enthusiasm!!!
• You are going to have a healthy, happy, prosperous new year!!!

Pat yourself on the back for all of your hard work and dedication in 2012 – learn from any past mistakes and successes – Now, let’s take our eyes out of the rear view mirror, look straight through the windshield, and MAT THE GAS PEDAL!!!

Copyright © Stephen Novak 2013 Rising Moon Publications. All rights reserved.

By: Stephen Novak

“Do one thing every day that scares you.” Eleanor Roosevelt

I was with my childhood friends the first time that I felt it.  We were passing a construction site when it first crept in to my subconscious.  I spotted leftover plywood and two-by-fours in a scrap bin behind a six foot fence…it whispered.  It enticed me to create, unencumbered by logic, whatever I imagined.  An hour later I was white-knuckling the handlebars of my bicycle while headed full speed towards a makeshift ramp that had formerly been a pile of scrap.  We all took turns, laughed, and with each scream of happiness we unknowingly fed the creature.  Now awake, from that day forward it would always be lurking.  It would help me to get my first date and land that first job.  It would irritate me until I got the courage up to ask for that first raise.  It pushed me in front of a group of sales trainees and through it all, my fear of failure became my best friend.  That fear forced me to prepare properly ahead of time; which, of course, greatly improved the odds of my success.

The process is known in the world of extreme sports as “Feeding the Rat”

The phrase is first known to have been uttered from Mo Anthoine, a mountain climber, who is highlighted in the book “Feeding the rat” by Al Alvarez.  Some believe that the rat is a philosophy that motivates certain people to do “crazy” things.  I believe that the rat is alive in all of us.  It prowls under the surface of our awareness until it gets hungry.  It then gnaws on our well-being like an addict wanting their next fix – most of us have heard the phrase “Adrenalin Junkie”.  And, of course, crazy means different things to different people.

When we are young and are not as afraid to make mistakes, the rat is more present and accessible.  In that state we are generally more mentally free from the possibility of failure.  Then, as life hands us our bumps and scrapes we unfortunately start to plan for failure and hold back.  Instead of taking risks, we throttle back for a more tame and sensible, albeit predictable path.  And while this tact may pay the bills and help keep the lions at bay (Very important, for sure), we should try to tap into that primeval instinctive urge to press the boundaries.  Our ancestors did this to survive physically – modern man must do this to survive mentally.

The principle of feeding the rat dovetails quite nicely into the business world.  The rat still requires feeding in order to move beyond the “Predictable” rut that most people and businesses find themselves in today.  Staying put, just idling in their comfort zone irritates the rat.  Soon after, his mischief begins.  Then, after a while we become discontent, agitated with ourselves and everyone else.  Some may resign from one company and start with another only to find that they are still trapped in this self-imposed rut.  Owners or managers may become paralyzed, unable to effectively make decisions.  Entire company philosophies can fall victim as uninspired leaders and disconnected employees feed off of the business until the business no longer exists.  Many begin to feel trapped in their jobs with little real commitment to their own future and certainly not to the organization’s success.  This meager existence is no path towards success or happiness.

Take a chance!!!  Dare to be great!!!  No one becomes the best that they can be without stepping outside of their comfort zone.

So whether you’re dangling off of the side of a mountain, four-wheeling through some mud, kite surfing, white water rafting, or standing up in front of a group of your friends screaming down a makeshift ramp while being excited to be alive; you are feeding a primordial part of your very being.  The rat is that gnarly edge of our personalities (Our other half, so to speak) that makes pushing the edge possible.  The rat is always creeping about.  And sometimes it gets really, really hungry.  It needs to be fed…SO FEED IT!!!

Remember, Fear is there to prepare us, not hold us back.

“Risk more than others think is safe. Care more than others think is wise. Dream more than others think is practical. Expect more than others think is possible.” Claude T. Bissell

Copyright © Stephen Novak 2012 Rising Moon Publications. All rights reserved.

By: Stephen Novak

I was heading home after a late meeting and didn’t feel like cooking.  On my way was an Italian restaurant that I’d heard had great food – being a sucker for Italian, I thought I’d give it a try.  When I entered the building I walked to the front counter. I approached the employee behind the register who was seated on a bar stool leaning back against the wall while staring off into space.  I explained that this was my first visit, I had heard good things, and would like to order some dinner to-go.  The employee leaned forward…popped out his ear buds…and said, “Hugh”.   I took a step back and then repeated what I had just said.  He had a puzzled look on his face as he said, “You can’t order to-go food up here.” 

Of course I asked, “Well, where can I order food to-go?”  He pointed to an area towards the back of the restaurant…put his ear buds back in…and leaned back.  I walked to the area that he designated and waited…and waited.  Two servers walked by at least twice before I flagged one of them down.  I immediately recognized the why-are-you-bothering-me look on her face.  I’d go on, but the rest of my visit wasn’t any better.  This experience enlightened me to the fact that although good customer service may be hard to define, poor customer service stands out like fingernails scraping along a chalkboard.  Let me explain:

You could pull a hundred different people off the street and ask them the question, “What is good customer service?”  And you would probably get a hundred different responses.  What’s OK for one person may not be good for another, but there are some fundamentals that must be present in any customer interaction.

Some typical “good customer service” elements that we all look for are:

1. We want to feel welcomed when we enter a business.
2. We want to be treated with respect.
3. We want to be listened to.
4. We want to get what we were promised and treated fairly.
5. We want to be thanked for our business.

Any business that is serious about providing good customer service must have these elements at the core of their customer service process.  Keep in mind that these elements are just a starting point.  If your goal is to provide excellent customer service, then you must notch up the intensity of the above elements while monitoring their effectiveness.  Tweak when necessary and eliminate any obstacle that prevents your customers from having such a positive experience that they honor you with their business time and time again.

Copyright © Stephen Novak 2011 Rising Moon Publications. All rights reserved.

May the peace of Christmas shine on you and yours throughout the new year.

To all,

Thanksgiving:

For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food,
For love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends.  -Ralph Waldo Emerson

I wish for everyone a HAPPY AND FULFILLING Thanksgiving!!!

Thank you for your support.

-Stephen Novak

By: Stephen Novak

I remember when starting a new business was as easy as…

1. The IDEA.
2. Acquiring some powdered lemonade.
3. Mix it up in a pitcher with water, sugar, and ice.
4. Put up a card table by a busy sidewalk.
5. Painting a sign that reads, “ICE COLD LEMONADE .35 CENTS A GLASS”.
6. Smile and say hello to people. 
7. Make sure that the lemonade doesn’t get too watered down from the ice melting.

Come to think of it…starting a business today requires very similar steps.  Just on a larger scale.  Let’s look at some key points compared to our theoretical lemonade stand.

1. The idea  =  the visualization stage. This is usually the most exciting part.  One can explore the possibilities of taking a raw gut feeling and transforming a dream into something innovative, rare, and successful.  Enjoy this stage but don’t linger in it – once an idea is revealed, it quickly starts to accumulate dust and lose its luster.
2. Acquiring some powdered lemonade, sugar, water and ice  =  The acquisition of the materials and concepts that lay out the building blocks of the product or service that you want to sell.  This may require financing: please read one my earlier posts “Starting a small business” (July, 30^th 2011) for more information on this topic.
3. Mix it in a pitcher  =  the manufacturing, making, or developing your product or service.  This is the nuts-and-bolts of your operation.  If you are predominantly a service oriented business, how you do what you do is more important than what you do. It’s your know-how and skill that will differentiate you from your competition.  If you will provide a product, will you manufacture it yourself or have it built for you?  What will be unique about its nomenclature?
4. Put up a card table where people can see you  =  the location of your business.  This could be a standard brick and mortar or web based site.The U.S. Small Business Administration has an excellent page that discusses this topic in great detail.  http://www.sba.gov/content/tips-choosing-business-location
5. Paining a sign  =  advertising.  This is your declaration to the masses: who you are, what you are about, and what you can do for them.  This proclamation could be as subtle as a handing out business cards, or as obvious as a flying around in a blimp with your name plastered all over the side.  There are literally thousands of new and innovative ways to get you name out there.  Explore.  Have fun.    
6. Smile and say hello to people  =  customer service.  This involves hiring, training, and holding accountable qualified customer service artists.  Without a proper customer focused business strategy, you will be out of business in no time.
7. Make sure that the lemonade doesn’t get watered down  =  Quality control.  This may be one of the most overlooked areas of any small business.  Big businesses have processes like Six Sigma in place to measure and improve their products or processes.  It may not be practical or cost effective for a small business to have a whole quality control department; however, it must be the responsibility of everyone in your business to make sure that by the time your product or service contacts the customer, it represents what you need it to. Any business must continually ensure that the products or services that they are offering exceed their customers’ expectations.

So we’ve had the vision, got the startup cash, created our product or service, picked our location and got the word out…whew…that was hard work.  I think I’ll have a glass of that lemonade now.

Copyright © Stephen Novak 2011 Rising Moon Publications. All rights reserved.

By: Stephen Novak

 Everything we do requires some form of a process.  From brushing our teeth to planning a trip, there is always a chain of events.  Merriam-Webster defines a process as:

1 a : progress, advance <in the process of time>

   b : something going on : proceeding

2 a (1) : a natural phenomenon marked by gradual changes that lead toward a particular result <the process of growth> (2) : a continuing natural or biological activity or function <such life processes as breathing> b : a series of actions or operations conducing to an end; especially : a continuous operation or treatment especially in manufacture.

We learned as a child how to brush our teeth, walk, and eventually ride a bike.  These processes took practice and determination to perfect.  A novice salesperson should constantly read new books, continually train with knowledgeable teachers, and diligently practice with the same resolve as a strong-minded child.  Come to think of it – experienced salespeople should do the same thing!!!   

 As an exercise, let’s look at a basic step-by-step approach to sales – The ever enduring 5 Steps To A (Anything) Sale:

1) Friendly greeting.

2) Assess needs.

3) Make recommendation.

4) Explain benefits and features.

5) Ask for the sale.

 If we left out step 2, we wouldn’t have any idea which product or service was right for the customer.  It would not help to push the two-car garage if the buyer’s main concern is the age of the roof.  Your job as a salesperson is to seek out what the customer wants.

 If we did not explain the benefits and features in Step 4, it would be impossible for the customer to differentiate our product or service from our competitor.  

 If we did not even ask the customer for the pleasure of his or her business…well, we probably should be doing something else for a living.

 Just as if we had forgotten to use a toothbrush while brushing our teeth, we could not be as effective as we should have been.

 BEWARE:  Do not allow yourselves to become slaves to any process just for the sake of the process.  If what you are doing ain’t working, you MUST try something else.  If the process gets in the way of customer communication, scrap it…amend it…modernize it (Read, train, practice).  Every sales process should enhance customer interaction, and keep a salesperson on track.  A process should NOT be there just to hook customers into buying something that will later regret.   

“We must first identify, before we can satisfy the customer’s proclivity…profitably”.

Copyright © Stephen Novak 2011 Rising Moon Publications. All rights reserved.

By: Stephen Novak

Consider the following situations:

A child is eating watermelon in the blistering dog day’s heat – The smile reverberates the true joy that only a simple summer treat can provide.

A man’s feet stammer in the aisle of a church at the beginning of the best decision he will ever make – His prospective spouse’s soul sings as she steers toward the aisle.

Now contrast with the following:

A single mom is leaving work; she notices her tire is low.  She’s knows that she’ll be late picking up her child from daycare (They penalize by the minute if you’re late) as she limps towards her favorite car repair shop.  She’s relieved that the shop doors are just now coming down, someone is still there, she thinks.  The person behind the glass doors waves their hands and yells, “We’re closed”, and steals away into the back room.

Now the reason for the rant:

I went into a convenience store a few days ago.  After checking out, the clerk stuffed my purchases into the bag and said, “Thanks, young man”.  During my sales training courses, I’ve heard similar statements from inexperienced salespeople for years.  When confronted they usually say that they’ve been told to always compliment the customer…to make them feel good.  And while that statement is true, they forgot the most important part of a compliment – IT MUST BE SINCERE.  Today’s customers are a lot savvier than they have ever been – They can spot a sales pitch a mile away.  After being assaulted by such a line, most customers will just smile back while thinking to themselves, what a schmuck. 

For anyone that works with people, commit to this: if you give anyone a compliment, IT MUST BE SINCERE.  People know how old they are, if they’ve lost weight, or if they’ve been working out.  Trite or dishonest statements will shore up any preconceived barriers that the customer may have.  Always remember: it’s our job to break down ANY barriers that get in the way of building strong relationships with our customers.

As for being there for your customers…we’ll cover that later.

Copyright © Stephen Novak 2011 Rising Moon Publications. All rights reserved.

By: Stephen Novak

Work Hard – A strong work ethic is the foundation from which anything worthwhile is built.  If you are a slacker…Stay home.  You’ll just get in the way of someone who is truly trying to get something done.  If you just want to trade time for money, that’s fine…, I guess…but don’t expect any true level of success.  The old saying, “Work smart, not hard” is fine as well; as long as we understand that we still have to put in the time and do more than the minimum requirements of a profession in order to excel at that profession.  While cream usually rises to the top without any effort, it’s usually beaten up and churned into butter.

Do the job right – Whatever the task, do it right the first time, every time.  And while I try not to deal in absolutes, doing poor work will absolutely kill your business.  Have or establish a well-designed, functional, measurable quality control process.  Never accept substandard or even mediocre products or performance.  Everyone makes mistakes; However, It’s how you manage those mistakes that will differentiate you from your competition.  Make sure that you have the proper tools to accomplish the job.  Make sure that you or your personnel are properly trained to complete the job.  This area, if not mastered will turn Mr. “Good enough” into Mr. “Out of business.”  

Have Integrity and Honor – Simply stated – Integrity is what you do when no one is looking.  A person with good integrity: keeps promises, is truthful, consistent, and not interested in the Quick-fix. They know that they aren’t perfect but strive for constant improvement.   

To me, honor is the inner respect and high self esteem that you will gain from good integrity.  Shame is what you will experience with poor integrity. 

Possess Good Character – Closely tied with integrity and honor, your character is the values, beliefs, and nature of who you are.  Make sure that each one of those core values are firmly rooted in goodness and decency.  If your moral compass can’t point due north, you will never achieve meaningful success.

In his book: “Winners Never Cheat” successful businessman and author, Jon Huntsman Sr. challenges us to think about the kind of person that you want to do business with…then…be that person.  Huntsman writes, “The rationale that you have to cheat to stay competitive is a powerful lure. Moral bankruptcy is the inevitable conclusion.”

Copyright © Stephen Novak 2011 Rising Moon Publications. All rights reserved.

Flowers transcend the memory of shattered glass and bone;

Their point reflects the precious lives this world had called a home;

Sunrise, again; they conquer darkness, evil holds no sway;

our broken heats will forever grieve the thousands for we pray,  

‘till we abide with thee and close our eyes at the end of day.

                                                                                      Stephen Novak 2011

My thoughts and prayers go out to all the victims of the violent 9-11 terrorist attacks as well as all of the brave men and women serving abroad and within the borders of our homeland to make our lives secure.  S.N.

INTRIOT and KYRIE: Faure Requiem

Requiem aeternam dona eis,Domine:  Rest eternal grant them, Lord our God we pray to thee:

et lux perpetua luceat eis.                       And light perpetual forever shine on them.

Te decet hymnus, Deus in Sion:            Thou, O God, art worshipped in holy Sion:

et tibi reddetur votum in Jerusalem. Unto thee the vow shall be performed In Jerusalem.

exaudi orationem meam,                         Hear us, Lord, Lord hear thy servants’ prayer:

ad te omnis caro veniet.                            Lord, unto thee all flesh shall come.

Kyrie eleison.                      Lord have mercy.

Christe eleison.                   Christ have mercy.

Kyrie eleison.                       Lord have mercy.

Requiescat in Pace

Rest in Peace